Two years apart
My children are two years apart. One is in 6th grade at elementary school, the other is in 8th grade at junior high, and their weeks do not line up. A trip and a test land on the same afternoon, and somebody has to choose. Clashes like that are sometimes unavoidable.
A space for each class, and one for the family
We keep one space for each class, one space for our own family, and one more for the wider family, so my mother can follow what everyone is doing without having to ask, including all her grandchildren's birtday dates, well, cause we all need a reminder for the extended family.
Each space has its own calendar. The class spaces hold the school dates. The family space holds what belongs to us.
Both classes, side by side
What changed is that I see a clash coming. Because I belong to more than one space, I can open a single view that shows every activity from all of them together. Both classes, side by side, in one list.
The shared calendar does not stop two things from landing on the same day. It stops me from discovering that on the morning itself.
The same reminder, for all four of us
All four of us are registered: me, my partner, and both kids. When a reminder goes out, it reaches all of us at the same time. Nothing depends on one person remembering to pass the message along at dinner.
The phone they already hold
The part I did not expect is what it does for the children. Their phone is in their hand anyway. Now the reminders and the calendar are there too, and they are learning to look ahead at their own week and get ready for what is coming.
That is a better use of the phone than I usually give it credit for.
The part a family can copy, with or without an account, is a weekly look at every calendar that affects the household. In the app, the overview shows activities from the spaces you belong to, and you can hide a space you do not need in that view. It will show two things on the same day. It will not decide which one wins.